The most important thing for us is that we remain a warm & friendly community. That means not being so big that people become strangers to each other. Every Elder should feel "known" and part of a close-knit circle.

This is why we close our doors from time to time. Any time things are going on that results in a lot of change within the kinship, we shut to new members until we've all had time to settle down again and find our fight. Examples of reasons include:

1) Number of members going above approx 100 people. Experience has taught us that around 100 is the maximum "magic number" for us to be a community that knows each other as individuals.

2) A large influx of recruits. We take very seriously the idea that recruits need to be made properly welcome, introduced to all the (painful) Elders' in-jokes and feel like part of a group as quickly as possible. Likewise, existing members need to feel they've got to know these new people properly. Again, experience has told us that having more than four Recruits at a time makes this hard.

3) Major game changes/new expansions etc. Once you've become a Member of The Elders, you're pretty much in for life. You can go off and play other games for a year and when you return to LOTRO, you get your membership back again. As a result, major changes & improvements to the game can see an influx of returning Elders. We love having people come "home" again! But, of course, by then there will be many new members they don't know and who also don't know them. So again we need time to settle down and get to know each other.

It is actually really hard to close to new Members! The whole kin is built on a philosophy of being always open and welcoming and we feel quite guilty when there are recruit applications from people who sound like they'll fit right in wonderfully. I'd just ask you to reflect as you wait, why it is you want to join us and what it is you'd like from being an Elder and recognise this is part of why we are who we are.

We are currently open for recruitment. We review this situation on a regular basis to maintain the community of knowing, and being known, to one another.

However, even when closed to new recruits, we always accept applications from people with particular, close links to current members (even new members) and in this instance you should speak to that person first (in brief, you need to be a close friend - IRL or in game - or a family member, of 25yrs+ of age, although at our discretion that may be lowered to 21yrs).